LAYNE GETS CONDITIONAL DISCHARGE FOR “OFFICIAL MISCONDUCT”

Former Airmont mayor and Sloatsburg building inspector pleads guilty to misdemeanor and receives light sentence

The DA’s probe into the activities of former Sloatsburg Building Inspector John Layne have ended somewhat anti-climactically, as Layne pled guilty Wednesday to a misdemeanor charge of “official misconduct” and received a one-year conditional discharge.

If Layne does not get in trouble with the law in the next year, he will have no further penalty, but he will have a permanent misdemeanor on his record. His future prospects in Rockland politics are most likely quite limited.

DA Zugibe had charged Layne with inappropriately doing business in Sloatsburg while the village’s building inspector and other corruption charges including steering residents to his electrical business.

In addition to Sloatsburg building inspector, Layne has been Suffern building inspector, Airmont mayor, Town of Ramapo deputy highway superintendent and Wesley Hills building inspector.

By 2009 many residents of Sloatsburg had become opposed to Layne’s tenure as building inspector. The situation came to a head in December 2009 when the board laid off Layne by hiring a neighboring village’s inspector as a “cost-cutting” measure.